Toledo
Police have a warning to residents as the Fourth of July approaches. They say
they get all kinds of calls for illegal fireworks, while the real ones are
going off, but they will also receive many calls of ‘shots fired.'

People
often fire their guns in the air to celebrate the Fourth, thinking it's a
harmless way to spend the holiday, but in reality, it can be very dangerous.

Whether
people are hanging out at the "Red, White, Kaboom" celebration along the river,
or just outside their home, a bullet fired into the air must eventually come
down – still traveling at a high speed.

Sgt.
Kevin Braun says there have been cases all over the country of people being
wounded or even killed by these bullets.

"You
could be out in the field and think that, ‘I'm just out in a field, shooting
off my gun in the air, celebrating,'" said Sgt. Kevin Braun with the Toledo
Police. "But those bullets can travel very far, especially if it's coming from
a high-powered weapon and not necessarily a handgun."

It
is a crime to randomly fire a gun in the city limits, and if a bullet hurts or
kills someone and police can discover who was responsible, that person could
face serious charges.